NEW YORK, December 14, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Pro-homosexual priest and Vatican adviser Fr. James Martin tweeted an immodest mockery of Our Lady of Guadalupe earlier this week that Mexican Catholics are calling “highly offensive” and “blasphemous.”
The Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of America Magazine tweeted three images based on the supernatural image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that were created by a feminist who “questioned this common icon of the ideal woman.”
One of the images tweeted by Fr. Martin depicts a woman with a hiked up skirt that reveals her thighs. She brandishes a serpent in her right hand. LifeSiteNews has pixelated the depiction.
“Mira! Look at these beautiful images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, reimagined as contemporary women. Remember that Our Lady lived a real life in Nazareth,” tweeted Fr. Martin.
The tweet appeared on December 12, a day celebrated by Catholics around the world as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Catholics expressed outrage over Fr. Martin’s tweet.
Honesty, as a Mexican I can tell you, @JamesMartinSJ, that the images you've posted are HIGHLY OFFENSIVE and even blasphemous!
THIS is the original image and it's perfect itself, no one needs to change that. pic.twitter.com/LyGsG6VBwc
— Alonso (@Alonso_DMD) December 13, 2017
Respect the sacred image of our lady of Guadalupe. Do not share such blasphemous recreations.
— Thalio ن (@ThalioLaguna) December 13, 2017
The image of Our Lady is divine. This is not, it is a caricature and a sacrilege. May God have mercy on your soul.
— Solus (@solusvagabund) December 12, 2017
The images were created by Yolanda Lopez, an American painter. She achieved international fame in the 1970s for her appropriation of the sacred image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Lopez stated that in creating her 1978 self-portrait, “Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe,” she was “questioning this common icon of the ideal woman in the Chicano culture.” She wished her audience to consider types of role models other than the Mother of God.
In her image of a woman brandishing a snake and treading on an angel, Lopez wished to emphasize “strength and power” through the depiction of muscular thighs. The snake represents sexuality. The angel underfoot represents the patriarchy.